A Grateful Heart

- Gratitude and a healthy self-image go hand-in-hand

When it comes to body image, it's very common focus on the weight even though you have made great strides. It's unfortunate that we battle acceptance and resist giving ourselves the self-acceptance, but it's something you can work with and improve over time.

Start a gratitude journal to help you focus on aspects of your life that are positive. You can use the journal idea and work on finding aspects of your physical self that you like, as small as these aspects may be. But start somewhere and do the exercise consistently each day.

Take a moment at the end of each day to write down up to 5 things you feel grateful for that day. An additional step is writing a positive physical attribute that you see in the mirror. This can be productive since others see big changes, yet you resist giving yourself the credit you deserve: I have all these people telling me how good I look, but all I think about when they say that (in my head), is you don't know how much fat is still on this body!!

It takes time, but we encourage you to notice the negative thoughts you have and work on distinguishing them -- oh, there's that critical voice again. The more awareness you can bring to these thoughts, the more you will be able to challenge them, re-frame them, and re-write your own thoughts, and you might as well make these positive since they really aren't "true" one way or the other (it's just what you decide to think about yourself).